Things with me are nuts right now. I’ve got a grant application due next week, which I’ll talk about once it’s submitted. I am teaching MOTHERFUCKING ULYSSES right now, which is a joy, really, but it’s intense as hell. And then there are the three other courses I’m teaching, which are GREAT, but none of which are in my specialization at the moment (and only one of which will enter my specialization, somewhere around week 9). I am supposed to be writing a book, but with the Ulysses and the grant, the progress is nonexistent, but in the service of that book I did read Zadie Smith’s new novel in two freaking days this week. (The good news: reading that novel in two days has shown me the way to finishing the body of the book. Also, some more good news: in spite of the mixed (to be generous) reviews, I really believe that this book is awesome, and that it is an important transition (potentially) in her oeuvre, and that it is a rare book that talks about relationships between women honestly, and that talks about women’s lives honestly. (Look, it’s not the romp that White Teeth is. It’s not the eexuberant joy that On Beauty is. No, it’s a harder [emotionally, stylistically] book than either of those. But it is a book that connects Zadie Smith to the women who precede her in the twentieth century. It is, fundamentally, a feminist book. Clearly, that would be difficult for a lot of reviewers, and potential readers, to take. But it is, I think, important. And it confirms some things that I’ve been thinking about “the long twentieth century.” So.)
In addition to these things, I’ve got an article to write, an article to review, another article to write, an article to check on (that I submitted three months ago), a committee to chair, and who the fuck knows what else. Did I mention that I teach a 4/4 load? Indeed.
Oh, and I have a real life: I go back to hometown this weekend ( a friend’s bachelorette thingie), a trip to Chicago, and a trip back to hometown (the wedding).
All of those real life things are grand. But seriously? I can’t wait until the end of this month. I can’t wait until I have weekends in which I can not speak to people. SERIOUSLY.
So if you don’t hear from me for the next three weeks? Don’t worry. And if you do hear from me and I seem motherfucking crazy, well, you know why.
Reassigned Time 2.0 
Holy crap. And I thought I was busy!
One thing I found very useful as a student reading Ulysses? The audiobook. There were sections that were simply better (and more understandable) when read aloud. Maybe Joyce was playing with the oral tradition. I don’t know. Anyway, you might try to pick up some audio clips for your students. If you have nothing else to do….
I’d have loved to have you as my professor–Ulysses was the very first thing I read in college, the result of spectacularly bad advising at orientation that landed me and one other first-year student in a class full of juniors. The professor was really wonderful, I now realize–I just came across his comments on my writing for that semester and realize just how seriously he took all of our writing. That part was wonderful. But starting college by reading Ulysses? I spent the first month in shock, thinking “wow. college is WAY harder than I thought it was going to be.” It took me years to realize that perhaps I wasn’t in the right course at the right time. I did some things right, and some things wrong, but was so over my head that I couldn’t figure out how to learn hard things on my own. That learning came later.
Hope you enjoy the hurricane of social events as they happen. I can see why you’re looking ahead to quiet.
Does anybody other than English professors use the word “oeuvre”?
Maybe music profs? But seriously: I think it’s an English Prof thang. Also, a fun word to say.
Just an FYI that Zadie Smith is on the Diane Rehm show today. She always seems, to me, to give very thoughtful interviews. I’m listening right now, and I’m enjoying it. drshow.org if you want to give a listen later on.
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